Close the books the same way every month. Then they’re finally usable.

The month-end close is the recurring process of finalizing the books for a completed month: reconciling every bank, credit card, and balance-sheet account, recording accruals and prepaids, posting depreciation and amortization, reconciling payroll liabilities, and producing the period’s financial statements. A clean close means the numbers for that month are locked, verifiable, and won’t change — the foundation every report, forecast, and tax return is built on.

Standard month-end work includes: reconciling all bank and credit card accounts to statements; reconciling balance-sheet accounts (loans, payroll liabilities, deposits held, intercompany) to source documentation; recording accruals for expenses incurred but not yet billed; amortizing prepaid expenses; posting depreciation and amortization; recording any required adjusting journal entries; running a balance-sheet review; and producing the period’s income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. Many businesses follow a published close calendar so each step happens on the same day each month.

For a small or mid-sized business with reliable bookkeeping and good source documentation, a typical close runs 5 to 10 business days after month-end — enough time for bank statements to post, source documents to land, and reconciliations to complete. Larger or more complex businesses may run longer; businesses behind on books often take significantly longer until catch-up work is finished. The goal is a consistent, predictable cadence, not the fastest possible close.

Bookkeeping is the ongoing daily and weekly work — recording transactions, categorizing expenses, capturing receipts. Month-end close is the discrete event that finalizes the period: reconciliations, accruals, journal entries, and statement delivery. Bookkeeping happens continuously; the close happens once a month. They are part of the same engagement at TechBrot — the close is a structured chapter within monthly bookkeeping.

Yes — a published close calendar is what turns the close from a scramble into a discipline. It defines when source documents are due from your team, when reconciliations are performed, when statements are reviewed, and when they are delivered to you and your CPA. The calendar makes accountability explicit and makes the cadence predictable for everyone involved.

Yes. Past periods that were never properly closed are handled inside a catch-up engagement (months behind) or a cleanup engagement (books are inaccurate or unreliable). Once the past is rebuilt and reconciled, we transition you into a recurring monthly close on a published calendar.

Month-end close is included in TechBrot’s monthly bookkeeping engagements, which range from $400 to $2,500+ per month with complexity adjustments based on transaction volume, accounts, locations, and reporting depth. Closes for past periods that were never properly performed are handled inside a catch-up or cleanup engagement, quoted as fixed-fee project work. No hourly billing. See pricing.